Entries in Wax Begonias
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My father-in-law knew nothing about gardening. Because he liked how annuals brightened up his front garden, he committed himself to learning how to plant them. Each season, he would kneel in front of the flower bed, which consisted of very dry, hard-packed clay and would proceed to deform my hand trowels by attempting to dig holes into the almost-concrete substance. Amazingly, though, his wax begonias always thrived and always looked great.

One season, I asked him for the secret of his success. He answered that he found the earth a bit dry when he was planting [ha!] and figured that if annuals needed water and if their roots were underground, then perhaps he should place the water underground as well. Now, that made sense. After excavating a hole in the hard-packed earth, he would fill that hole with water, insert the wax begonia seedling into the water-filled hole, and back fill the hole with the crumbled concrete that he called earth. Never mind that this earth was not a friendly growing medium. He watered the begonias every night and they always looked great.